Ethylene inhibits potato tuber sprouting during storage by regulating stress resistance and development

• Continuous treatment of ethylene solid releasers could inhibit potato sprouting. • Ethylene resulted in higher contents of reducing sugars and soluble sugars. • Ethylene reduced the content of MDA and increased the activities of SOD and CAT. • Ethylene inhibited sprouting by increasing the expression of stress-related genes. • Ethylene inhibited sprouting by decreasing the expression of developmental genes. Sprouting remains a serious problem during the postharvest storage of potato. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of exogenous ethylene on potato tuber sprouting. The potatoes were treated by exogenous ethylene solid releasers at a concentration of 1000 μL/L every 48 h. Obvious sprouts were observed in the untreated group (CK) after 2 d storage at 25 °C, while only a few potatoes began to sprout after 6 d storage under continuous treatment of ethylene (ET group). The contents of reducing and soluble sugars were higher in the ET group than in the CK. In addition, the activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase were higher in the ET group than those of the CK, while the content of malondialdehyde was reduced with ethylene treatment. Transcriptomic analysis showed that ethylene treatment increased the expression levels of stress-related genes, including those related to pathogen infection and attack, ethylene, jasmonic acid, abscisic acid, and wounding, and decreased the expression levels of genes related to auxin, gibberellin, brassinolide, the cell cycle, cell wall synthesis, and photosynthesis. Therefore, continuous ethylene treatment during storage inhibited potato sprouting by regulating stress resistance and growth. This study establishes a molecular mechanism model of the ethylene-mediated inhibition of potato sprouting, providing a theoretical basis for optimizing and developing potato bud inhibition technology during storage.